Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hachenburg (sometimes called Sayn-Hachenburg) was a German County located in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

, near the river

Sieg The Sieg is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Rhine. The river is named after the Sicambri. It is in length. The source is located in the Rothaargebirge mountains. From h ...

. When Count William III of

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn was a county of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, comprising the lands of the region of Sayn. It was created as a partition of Sayn-Wittgenstein in 1607, although it was not until the next year that it obtained fully the C ...

died in 1623 without clear heirs, the Archbishop of Cologne occupied the vacant County until the succession was settled. It was settled by treaty in 1648, when the county was given jointly to Countesses Ernestine and Johanetta, two sisters who were granddaughters of Count William, and their mother Dowager Countess Louise Juliane made regent. But shortly after the treaty, the county was split between the two. Ernestine's portion was called "Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hachenburg". Johanetta's was "

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn-Altenkirchen Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn-Altenkirchen (sometimes called Sayn-Altenkirchen) was a German county located in what is now Rhineland-Palatinate, near the river Sieg. When Count William III of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn died in 1623 without clear heirs, the ...

" (or Sayn-Altenkirchen for short). Their mother remained regent for both counties until 1652, when Johanetta and Ernestine separately ruled their respective Counties. Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hachenburg was inherited by Countess Magdalena Christina in 1661 following Ernestine's death. It passed to the

Burgrave Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave (from german: Burggraf, la, burgravius, burggravius, burcgravius, burgicomes, also praefectus), was since the medieval period in Europe (mainly Germany) the official title for the ruler of a castle, especia ...

s of Kirchberg in 1715, to the Princes of

Nassau-Weilburg The House of Nassau-Weilburg, a branch of the House of Nassau, ruled a division of the County of Nassau, which was a state in what is now Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1344 to 1806. On 17 July 1806, upon the dissolution of t ...

in 1799, The title passed through the female line and is held by the Grand Duke of

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

Countesses of Sayn-Hachenburg (1648–1827)

* Ernestine Salentine (1648–1661) * ''Louise Juliane (1648–1652) – Regent'' * Maximilian Joseph (1661–1675), also Count of Manderscheid-Blankenheim. * Magdalena Christina (1675–1715), also Burgravine consort of Kirchberg. * George Frederick (1715–1749), also Burgrave of Kirchberg. * William Louis (1749–1751), also Burgrave of Kirchberg. * William George (1751–1776), also Burgrave of Kirchberg. * Louise Isabelle (1776–1827), Princess consort of Nassau-Weilburg.

References

* Matthias Dahlhoff: ''Geschichte der Grafschaft Sayn.'', Dillenburg 1874. * Findbuch für die Überlieferung im Hauptstaatsarchiv Wiesbaden: Hellmuth Gensicke (Bearb.): ''Grafschaft Sayn-Hachenburg, Akten'', (Repertorien des Hessischen Hauptstaatsarchivs Wiesbaden 340), hrsg. vom Hessischen Hauptstaatsarchiv Wiesbaden und von der Historischen Kommission für Nassau, Wiesbaden 1979. * Markus Müller: ''Gemeinden und Staat in der Reichsgrafschaft Sayn-Hachenburg 1652–1799'', (Beiträge zur Geschichte Nassaus und des Landes Hessen, Bd. 3), zugl. Siegen Univ. Diss. 2004. Historische Kommission für Nassau : Wiesbaden 2005. (Forschungsarbeit mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der inneren Entwicklung). * Daniel Schneider: ''Die Entwicklung der Konfessionen in der Grafschaft Sayn im Grundriss'', in: Heimat-Jahrbuch des Kreises Altenkirchen, 58. Jahrgang, 2015, p. 7480. * Daniel Schneider: ''Die Landstände in der Grafschaft Sayn sowie in Sayn-Altenkirchen und Sayn-Hachenburg'', in: Jahrbuch für westdeutsche Landesgeschichte, 33. Jahrgang, 2007, p. 213-229. {{Authority control Counties of the Holy Roman Empire States and territories established in 1648 1648 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Former states and territories of Rhineland-Palatinate History of the Westerwald